16.01.201904:45 Forex Analysis & Reviews: EUR/USD: Italy, Draghi, Brexit

The foreign exchange market in anticipation of key events of today, month, and possibly - the year. The British Parliament will deliver its verdict on Brexit late tonight (and possibly late at night), so today's trading is cautious and quite volatile. In particular, at the beginning of the US session, the euro/dollar pair surprised traders with a downward impulse toward the founding of the 14th figure. Considering the fact that the pound was relatively calm at the same time, it was possible to conclude that Brexit had nothing to do with it.

Later it became known that the single currency reacted so keenly to the statements of the Italian prime minister, who criticized the European Central Bank. Italy again reminded of itself, although traders turned over this Chapter at the end of last year, when Rome and Brussels agreed on a budget, thus preventing a disciplinary procedure. However, now conflict situations have arisen in a somewhat different plane. The fact is that the ECB is seriously concerned about the state of the Italian banking sector, especially after a number of recent events. I recall that in early January, the European regulator took control of the tenth largest bank in Italy, Banca Carige. The European Central Bank has appointed three temporary administrators and a supervisory committee, thereby replacing the bank's board of directors.

And here it is worth noting that Banca Carige is one of the most troubled Italian banks, which was provided with assistance in the amount of 320 million euros from the Italian Interbank Fund last fall. But because of the frankly inept management and the conflict of shareholders, the bank failed to restructure and get rid of "bad" debts. The Fitch rating agency, in turn, lowered the bank's credit rating to CCC + with a negative outlook, while warning that Carige could go bankrupt. As a result, the Italian National Commission on Companies and Stock Exchanges ceased trading in bank shares, as the board of directors wereunable to reach an agreement on raising capital. This was the last straw for the majority of the members of the Board of Carige, after which the leadership was transferred to the temporary administrators appointed by the European Central Bank. By the way, after that, both Italian and German government bonds collapsed, putting significant pressure on the euro.

The above situation did not remain without consequences. Two weeks later, that is, today, the ECB demanded that Italian banks prepare reserves to cover the so-called "bad loans" for seven years. Italy's Vice Prime Minister Silvio Matteo "with hostility" took this demand, calling it "irresponsible." In his opinion, the European regulator demonstrates double standards and abuses its powers, using them for political purposes. He also noted that the central bank's intervention on banks which are "undesirable", can be an expensive cost for Italy- Matteo announced the amount of 15 billion euros. In addition, the Italian Deputy prime minister warned that the European regulator by its actions could provoke political and financial instability in the country.

Such harsh statements came as a complete surprise, so the single currency reacted accordingly. Mario Draghi, who spoke today in the European Parliament, added fuel to the fire. He said that the latest macroeconomic indicators turned out to be "much weaker" than forecasts, and this fact suggests that stimulating the economy through soft monetary policy is "still necessary."

He also said that the regulator will pursue an accommodation policy in the foreseeable future until inflation rises to the target level. Given the fact that inflation has recently shown only negative dynamics, it is not difficult to build an appropriate logical chain. In other words, the chances of an ECB rate hike within the current year are melting before our eyes, especially in the face of uncertain prospects for Brexit.

By the way, it was Brexit's question that put pressure on the pound and the dollar in the second half of today: and the closer the time to "X hour", the more volatility is expected in the market, and for no apparent reason. For example, the dollar index fluctuated without any enthusiasm throughout the day, but by the end of the day it soared up, although the producer price index in the United States and the Empire Manufacturing index were worse than expected (the last figure dropped to 1.5-year lows). The general nervousness of the market affects the dynamics of the US currency, although there are still no significant reasons for strengthening the greenback.

All this suggests that before a vote in the British Parliament, traders are best to take a wait-and-see attitude: events in London will have an impact not only on the pound or the euro, but also determine the mood of the entire foreign exchange market.